Various types of ejector mechanisms have been used in the past to force material from a chamber. For example, it is known to use a pusher plate in a bucket for an excavator machine or a bowl a scraper machine to force the material out of the bucket or bowl. These known pusher plates are normally controlled by a hydraulic cylinder so that when it is desired by the operator to eject the material, he merely operates a control valve which results in the hydraulic cylinder pushing the plate forward to force the material out.
In strip mining applications, large excavating wheels have been used to remove overburden material so that coal can be harvested. These large wheel type excavating machines merely scoop up the overburden material in individual scoop and as the individual scoops of the large wheel reaches the topmost point of the wheel rotation the overburden material falls onto a conveyor. When the large excavating wheel is operated in soft sticky overburden material, the overburden material does not freely fall from the individual scoops. Consequently, it is desirable to provide an ejector mechanism that operates to urge the soft sticky material from the chambers of a wheel that is being used to remove silt from under a body of water.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.